Santa Ana teen slips into alter ego as singer 'La Morenita'

Sept. 12, 2013

Updated Sept. 13, 2013 2:42 p.m.

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Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, works with her music teacher David Torres as she practices for the Fiestas Patrias where she has been invited to sing the Mexican National Anthem and other traditional songs. The Fiestas Patrias is the annual celebration of Mexican Independence that will be celebrated in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, will sing the Mexican National Anthem at this year's Fiestas Patrias in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, practices at home with her music teacher David Torres for her upcoming participation in the annual Fiestas Patrias in downtown Santa Ana this weekend. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adriana Cruz of Santa Ana practices singing "Dos Arbolitos" during a music lesson in preparation for her performance at this year's Fiestas Patrias in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, accompanies herself on the guitar as she practices for Las Fiestas Patrias this weekend in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Music teacher David Torres, left, accompanies Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, as she practices for her performance at this year's Fiestas Patrias in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Adriana Cruz, La Morenita de California, works with her music teacher David Torres as she practices for the Fiestas Patrias where she has been invited to sing the Mexican National Anthem and other traditional songs. The Fiestas Patrias is the annual celebration of Mexican Independence that will be celebrated in downtown Santa Ana. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – By day, she's a 17-year-old senior at Los Amigos High School, boning up on calculus and hoping for a callback for a school play.

On nights and weekends, though, Adriana Cruz emerges as Adriana La Morenita de California, an up-and-coming singer of traditional and popular Mexican music.

“A lot of people in my school, they know that I sing and they call me ‘mariachi girl,' and I'm just like, OK, I guess I'm ‘mariachi girl' now,” she said.

“I don't like mixing the two. In school, I try not to tell anyone,” she said. “I'm just a normal girl in school doing the best I can to get a career. But on the other side, when I get home, like my mom says, I have to put on my costume, for ‘Adriana La Morenita de California' when I go sing.”

This Saturday, Adriana will make her fourth appearance at Santa Ana's annual Fiestas Patrias celebration, singing “Himno Nacional Mexicano” – Mexico's national anthem – at 8 p.m. It's part of the El Grito ceremony, a re-enactment of Mexico's 1810 cry for independence from Spain.

She takes her music seriously, practicing up to 10 hours a week. Besides singing, she plays guitar and the guitarlike vihuela. With homework, that can leave little time for hanging out with friends.

“This summer I didn't go out with my friends at all,” she said. “I was home studying, rehearsing and practicing. … Going out with your friends; what is that going to leave you? Practicing, at least you learn a new song.”

The anthem presents challenges, she said, but also rewards.

“It goes down up, down up. From a really low note to a high note,” she said. “Sometimes there are some words that I really can't pronounce, that I try my best pronouncing.”

She mentioned the word sepulcro as an example, which means “sepulcher.”

“Sepulcro. Sepulcro. Sepulcro,” she said to herself until, despite her fluency in Spanish, she got it right. “I have to say and say and say it before I start singing.”

Despite having sung the anthem three times before at Fiestas Patrias, she has been practicing it with music teacher David Torres. She said she recognizes the anthem's emotional importance in Orange County's immigrant Mexican community. “It's important because you're not forgetting your tradition and your ancestors,” she said.

As a youngster, Adriana, a lifelong resident of Santa Ana, used to imitate Latin pop singers Shakira and Selena, lip-syncing the words to their songs. She started taking dance lessons at Anaheim Indoor Marketplace, where a teacher encouraged her, at 8, to enter a competition there. She won two years in a row, and the third year was made a judge.

Her wins led to free dance, music and modeling lessons. Adriana trained mostly as a dancer, until little by little she discovered a love for singing by age 11. The first Mexican song she learned was from listening to Linda Rondstadt sing “Los Laureles.”

Family members would affectionately call her Morenita, a term for “the little brown one,” for the light-chocolate color of her skin. Since she was born in California – Fountain Valley to be exact – she dubbed herself as Adriana La Morenita de California.

Through the years, she has sung for church events and nonprofit fundraisers, appeared in a couple of films and opened for such popular performers as Pepe Aguilar, Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Los Freddys.

Mariachi is her favorite style. “My dream is to sing a song with Vicente Fernandez – it would be so amazing if I did that.”

Besides the investment of time, her budding career also means an investment in clothing. She has more than 15 dresses and mariachi outfits that she uses for performances.

For this weekend's performance, she'll wear a Mexican-made dress in red, white and green that bears symbols from Mexico's flag – an eagle atop a cactus, an image steeped in Aztec legend and Mexican identity. Her mom, Silvia Mateo, an immigrant from San Juan Teitipac in Oaxaca, bought it for $400. Silvia, a single mom, works as a certified nursing assistant at a long-term care facility. The family's west Santa Ana home speaks to the family's life, with images of Jesus, musical instruments and photographs.

Adriana, who carries a 3.5 GPA, wants to attend either Cal State Fullerton or Long Beach State and study psychology, in hopes of someday working with teenagers. She also wants to continue studying music.

“It takes a lot of work and patience to get where you want to be. … Whatever you do, don't give up,” she said. “And when you have an opportunity, don't let it go. If it's what you really want, keep doing it.”

She sees herself as someday singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a public performance.

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